PHOTOS: The city of Opelika just added a new fire engine to its fleet. The new truck, which cost $1.2 million, is called an aerial. It’s the first of four new firetrucks that will arrive this year. The total price for all four firetrucks will be close to $3 million.
Opelika Fire Chief Shane Boyd said the new aerial is a multi-purpose truck with a pump, a water tank, a water hose, an aerial device, and ground ladders. Boyd said the truck was customized to the Opelika Fire Department’s specifications.
“We’d never done this before, but we put together a committee of our own officers and firefighters that wanted to be part of building the truck and said let’s try to maximize the uses,” Boyd said. “Firemen are notoriously hard to please. We second guess everything we do. We’re probably our own worst critics, but they’ve been really happy with the way they laid it out. I don’t think we would change anything if we ordered another one.”